The Braxtons

Toni: Trina, hurry up.

Trina: I'm coming right now!

Man: We've got Trina in makeup.

Toni's here.

Towanda is on the way.

Towanda: You good? You ready for today?

Um, I'm getting ready emotionally, yeah.

I'm getting made up for it, but emotionally, eh, we'll see.

Are you good?Yeah, I'm in a good space.

Woman: Tamar is in route.

Man: Miss E's in the kitchen.

She's gonna be cooking.

We should be shooting in about 20 minutes.

"The Braxtons."

The Braxtons are back, guys!

Look at God.

Man: All right, y'all, let's get last looks in so we can get this going.

Let's get this party started.

This is my first green screen.

What's the black gonna ... what's the background gonna be?

In the back? -Yep.

Miss E: It's been a long time coming.

We've dealt with a lot, and so we have a lot to share.

Matter of fact, the Braxtons never should have gone away.

How 'bout that? Wouldn't you agree?

I love you guys, in case you didn't know.

Yeah, baby. Now we talkin'.

I think that the Braxtons remind every family

of themselves in some aspect...

...whether it's the music aspect...

Let's watch these ... Let's watch these pitches, honey.

When you ready for me, let me know.

-Oh, you tryin'. -I can't ... I'm standing.

...whether you're getting along,

whether you're not getting along...

Well, since you left the group, Toni, somebody had to take control.

...the cliques that's within the families,

it somehow reminds you of your own.

Hey. I'm so glad you're cooking.Mwah!

Trina: With our family, there's always an opportunity

for things to go left.

I am just really excited that things are going right.

- -Aah!

Towanda: You know, I'm glad that we're back.

But the other part of it is,

I know that we have a missing piece

that is never gonna be the same without her.

Toni: This week is the second anniversary of Traci's passing.

Traci wanted everybody to know that she was a fighter and that,

you know, her illness was not going to break her spirit.

She was gonna always remain the Traci

that we all knew her to be.

Hey!

Hi. Why y'all so excited to see me?

My sisters are here.

Traci may not be here physically,

but her spirit and her energy will alwaysbe here.

It'll be here forever.

Toni: Give it up for Traci!

Miss E: She called me.

She said, "Mommy, I have cancer."

Toni: I felt so helpless,

like I couldn't do anything to save her.

I feel like we need to have some type of support.

-Like grief management? -Grief management or...

because that's a lot.

I had the echo done. I had the EKG.

I had bloodwork done.

What's wrong with your heart?

Suppose that I got my boys.

What's gonna happen to Denim and Diezel?

I am who I am. You accept me or you just don't accept me.

It's just a part of who I am.

I have alopecia, and that's just it.

Trina: We're just calling to check in on you,

see how you feeling, see how you doing.

I don't want him to go into a downward spiral.

We need to go ahead and go in grief counseling.

Tell me, what do you feel like you need help with?

I don't think I'm ready.

So I have no idea what to expect.

Any idea for what may need to happen tonight

in order to make sure that it stays in a positive direction?

-All right. -Unh-unh. Unh-unh.

Braxtons, baby. Let's get it.

Come on, Caleb.

Take care. All right, love you.

Trina: You, too. Have a great day.

What is that you're making?

Beef chorizo.

I am hungry. I haven't had any food today.

Oh, shocker.

Are you putting all that cheese in there?

Uh, no, not unless you want to stay in the bathroom

for the next couple of days.

Yeah, I'm good.

When's that gonna be done?

In a few minutes.

What are we gonna eat with it?

-Chips. -That's it?

It's dip.

Mm. Any broccoli?

Trina: Von and I have been married for almost five years now,

and our blended family has blended together

quite beautifully, and I'm still so much in love with Von,

it's like the first day that I married him.

Walk all the way up and then let it go. Man: Pause.

-Yeah. -Now spread out. Ooh!

-Oh, -I got you, I got you,

I got you, I got you.

Got you. She slipped.

I did. I knew my pants was too long.

I couldn't hold my pants up

and hold Trina dress up at the same time.

It was either her or me.

Watch your boob. Watch your boob.

How you feeling about the show coming back?

I'm a little leery.

It's been three years now since we've last done the show.

And then ever since everything happened even with Traci, I ...

I would have thought that maybe, you know,

it would have brought everybody to a different place

where we're closer and things like that.

But that's not what happened here.

And I just wonder

how that's gonna be actually working together again,

'cause we haven't really done any kind of works together,

not collaboratively.

And that's ... it ... that worries me.

I won't say that my sisters and I have become estranged

since Traci's passing.

I feel like no one really wanted to address it and talk about it.

So my feelings were enclosed. They were put in a box.

And especially for me, that was unhealthy.

I should have had my sisters to lean on to be those people

for me to talk to, but it just didn't feel

like that's what they wanted for themselves.

You know we're supposed to be going to dinner

with Toni and the girls tonight.

Well, not you...Who is "we"?

-...but me and... -Okay, cool.

Towanda and Tamar and Mommy.

Nice. Y'all need some time together.

I'm really glad that Toni is in town for a couple of days

because we never see each other. okay?

Tonight will be a good check-in to see

how everyone's doing, especially as we get close

to the two-year anniversary of Traci's passing.

Mommy's been pushing for us to talk to a grief counselor

together, but we haven't decided if we're ready to do that yet.

We're gonna talk about, you know, Traci.

We never really sat and talked about it as a family

ever since... That day.

...you know, we had her memorial service.

Yep. How are you feeling?

It's been difficult. It's been difficult.

Grieving is a very real thing, you know what I mean?

That's a given, yeah.And it's ...

That's why it's so important for us to stay in contact

with Baby Kevin, with Little Kevin.

Little Kevin is not just Traci's son.

He's her only child.Hey!

They had the deepest bond in the whole entire world.

Hey, Kevin!

I think the loss of Traci for Little Kevin

was one of the most detrimental things

he's ever been through in his life,

and we need to make sure he knows that

just because he lost his mother, he isn't alone.

Dude lost his mom very early in life.

But he doesn't speak to his dad as much either.

What?

I didn't know that.

Not as often as I would ... I would think.

I won't speak negatively about his dad

because his dad was grieving, too.

No matter my personal opinion toward him,

he's still a grieving husband.

But when your surviving parent is shut down

and the parent that you lost is gone,

who do you ... who do you have?

It's almost a loss of both parents.

I think we should check on him, see how he's doing.

I just don't know...

The situation was tough for everybody.

Yeah.

It's tough for everybody.

But Toni said that she has something to say to us.

But you just never know what it's gonna be.

Good or bad? I don't know,

Toni, in true Toni fashion,

asked the family to come to dinner,

and she had something to tell us, you know.

But this time, when she told us that she wanted to talk,

the setting of her tone was very melancholy.

And I'm really afraid 'cause Toni has always been recluse

when it comes to her feelings.

She's never really been this person

who just wants everybody to know what's going on with her.

-You know what? -Hmm?